Over the past few weeks, supporters of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have done something surprising: spent big money on his re-election bid.
Mr. Graham might seem to be in a comfortable position. A Republican representing a deep-red state, he has held his Senate seat for more than two decades and has an endorsement from President Trump.
Yet in his primary contest on Tuesday, he may be in some danger of being forced into a runoff election, according to recent polling. Surveys show him well ahead of Mark Lynch, a businessman, but if Mr. Graham fails to secure more than 50 percent of the vote, the two candidates will head to a June 23 runoff.
Mr. Graham does not face a competitive general election, but he is trying to avoid the headache of a runoff and the extra spending it would require.
In mid-May, a super PAC called Palmetto Action — which was newly created and has not revealed its donors — began running ads against Mr. Lynch. In one, the group said Mr. Lynch had “a rap sheet fit for a convict, not a U.S. senator,” a reference, in part, to the candidate’s drug charges in the 1980s. (Mr. Lynch has said he pleaded guilty, went to rehab and turned his life around.)
The super PAC has spent $3.2 million on television and video ads propping up Mr. Graham, according to data as of Monday afternoon from the media tracking firm AdImpact.
This month, American Mission, a super PAC aligned with the artificial intelligence industry, also jumped into the race, spending nearly $300,000 on ads that promote Mr. Graham and feature Mr. Trump calling the senator a “good man.”
Mr. Graham’s campaign also ramped up its spending on ads in the final weeks of the campaign.
In total, Mr. Graham’s campaign and groups supporting him have spent more than $18 million on ads.
Mr. Graham is out-raising his challenger. The senator brought in about $5.3 million to his main campaign committee between January 2025 and late May of this year, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Mr. Lynch is heavily self-funding his campaign: He raised only about $606,000, but he lent himself an additional $5 million.
The Lynch campaign has spent about $4.6 million on ads. One shows footage from 2016 of Mr. Trump calling Mr. Graham a “disgrace” and a “nut job.”
The winner of the Republican primary is likely to face Annie Andrews, a Democratic pediatrician who raised about $8 million between May 2025 and late May of this year — more than Mr. Graham and Mr. Lynch raised combined.
A strong Democratic fund-raiser in a House race
The race to fill the seat of Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican running for governor, is crowded and competitive.
Ten Republicans and seven Democrats are in the running for the solidly red seat in South Carolina’s First Congressional District.
Nancy Lacore, a Democrat and a former chief of the Navy Reserve who was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last year, has raised the most of any Democrat or Republican running for the seat. She brought in $1.4 million between this January, when she entered the race, and late May.
House Majority PAC, the main House Democratic super PAC, has already bought more than $2 million worth of advertisements in this race to be run in the fall.
Among the Republicans, Mark Smith, a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, raised the most, not including loans that candidates made to themselves. He brought in nearly $450,000 in campaign contributions between last July and late May. However, other Republicans in the race are not far behind.
